Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Boards of Appeal Still Need Independence

Mafia Battistelli



Summary: The 'gangsters' who are running the EPO prevent judges from daring to rule against patent maximalism (knowing their work contract might not be renewed as a result)

THE European Patent Office (EPO) issued (warning: epo.org link) this announcement yesterday: "The Technical Board of Appeal set the EPO's decision aside and remitted the case back to the patent examiners for further consideration. The Technical Board of Appeal stated inter alia that Rule 28(2) EPC "could not be interpreted in such a way that it was not in conflict in conflict" with Article 53(b) EPC as interpreted by the Enlarged Board of Appeal in decisions G 2/12 and G 2/13."



"Imagine what would happen if Iancu controlled US judges."The problem is, the EPO is granting patents on life and nature (seeds, plants, animals), contrary to orders from Europe and the EPC. Who's going to stop this madness? A remittance does not tackle the issue and the matter is seen by a Board subservient to the Banker in Chief (old French friend of corrupt Battistelli) as a matter of abstinence (they abstain from making a decision). What the heck is going on? This should be a "slam-dunk" case. Thorsten Bausch has just weighed in as well. He wrote this: "The much awaited decision T 1063/18 by Technical Board of Appeal 3.3.04 in a five-member composition has been published today. The patent application under appeal related to new pepper plants and fruits with improved nutritional value, and the decision did indeed turn out to be quite peppery, at least in regard to the EPO Administrative Council’s attempt to prohibit the patenting of plants by way of the addition of the “interpretative” Rule 28(2) EPC.

"To begin with, the Board reminded itself of the existing case law of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) on Art. 53(b) EPC, which stipulates that European Patents are not to be granted for plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals. The question then put before the EBA was whether this exclusion also extends to plants or plant material or part of plants other than a plant variety"

Why is this even a question? This should be trivial, based on common sense, let aside the law. Meanwhile, as we pointed out in recent weeks, Syngenta's highly controversial patent has been challenged and, as we've already noted, the patent is now gone; the EPO should never have gone this far with such patent applications and they only grant these because they're driven by patent maximalism. Alessandro Mancosu (IEG Policy) wrote this text a couple of days ago:

The European Patent Office (EPO) has officially revoked a patent granted to Syngenta on a tomato variety, after the company's decision to withdraw it, which anti-GM campaigners claim is due to a public outcry over the patent.


This is a case of escape/retreat rather than defeat. Do they hope to dodge a precedence they would not like? Either way, the EPO continues to mumble on this critical issue of patents on natural phenomena and the EPO Boards of Appeal need real independence; they have none of that, seeing that even under António Campinos their colleague is having his whole life (not just his career) destroyed. Imagine what would happen if Iancu controlled US judges.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We're Reporting Brett Wilson LLP for Apparently Misusing Their Licence to Protect American Microsofters Who Attack Women
For those who have not been keeping abreast
Stefano Maffulli and His Microsoft-Funded OSI Staff Are Killing the OSI and Killing "Open Source" (All for Money!)
This is far from over
Techrights Headlines as Semaphore
"If you are hearing this, thank you"
 
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: Games and More
Links for the day
Links 01/04/2025: Apple Fined $162M for Privacy Abuses, Disinformation Online a Growing Concern
Links for the day
Newer Press Reports Confirm That Microsoft Shuts Down 'Hey Hi' (AI) Labs Despite All the Hype
The "hey hi" (AI) bubble is not sustainable
Links 01/04/2025: Mass Layoffs at Eidos and "Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers" (Demand Lacking); "Racist and Sexist" Slop From Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: XKCDpunk and worldclock.py
Links for the day
50 Years of Sabotage and a Gut Punch to Computer Science (and Science in General)
Will we get back to science-based computing rather than cult-like following?
3 Months in 2025, 4 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Now Offices Shut Down Permanently
"A recent visit by the South China Morning Post confirmed that the office was dark, unoccupied, and had its logo removed."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 31, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 31, 2025
Links 31/03/2025: China Tensions, Bombs Falling in Myanmar After Earthquake
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/03/2025: Falling Out of Love With Tech, Sunsetting openSNP
Links for the day
R.T.O. at IBM in Texas and Atlanta (State of Georgia) Expected as "Soft Layoffs" Catalyst This Coming Year
It also sounds like more IBM layoffs are in the making
Law Firms Can Also Lose Their Licence for Clearly Misusing It
The bottom line is, never made the false assumption that because you can pile up SLAPPs in a docket you will not suffer from bad reputation or even get disbarred
Link between institutional abuse, Swiss jurists, Debianism and FSFE
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
LLM Slop Piggybacking News About GNU/Linux and Distorting It
new examples
Links 31/03/2025: Press and Democracy Under Further Attacks in the US, Attitudes Towards Slop Sour
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: The OSI Does Not Respect Anybody's Privacy
The surveillance mafia that bans dissent or key people (even co-founders) with dissenting views
Gemini Links 31/03/2025: More X-Filesposting and Dreaming in Emacs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 30, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 30, 2025
Links 30/03/2025: Security Breaches, Crackdowns on Dissent/Rival Politicians
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2025: London Soundtrack Festival, Superbloom, gmiCAPTCHA
Links for the day
Phasing Out Vista 10 in Nations Where ~90% of Windows Users Still Rely on It
Recipe for another Microsoft disaster
The Cost of Pursuing the Much-Needed Reform/Shield Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
The LLM Bubble is About to Implode, Gimmicks and Financial Shell Games Cannot Prevent That, Only Delay It
To inflate the bubble MElon is now doing the classic trick of buying from oneself for a fictional value
Links 30/03/2025: Contagious Ideas, Signal Leak, and Squashing Lousy Patents
Links for the day
Links 30/03/2025: "Quantum Randomness" and "F-1 Visa Revoked" in US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2025: US as a Threat, Returning to the WWW
Links for the day
Links 30/03/2025: Judge Blocks Dismantling Of VOA, Turkey Arrested Many Journalists
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 29, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 29, 2025